Commonly-assigned, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/124,785 (the '785 patent application) addresses the so-called “secondary” drug problem, i.e., medication usage errors. As noted therein, this problem is heightened when one considers that the vast majority of medication users are elderly and may have vision and memory difficulties and that many thereof are required to take different medicines with different dosages over different time periods.
The '785 patent application provides a medicine container, comprising an upstanding body having an open mouth and a hollow interior bounded by a sidewall and a separator secured in the body and defining upper and lower compartments, the upper compartment opening into the body open mouth, the lower compartment being accessible while the separator is secured in the body. In one embodiment, the separator is insertable into a standard medicine container and has a separating portion defining both a floor for the upper compartment and a ceiling for the lower compartment. The separating portion is pivotally supported to move between positions opening and closing the lower compartment.
In use of the above-described container of the '785 patent application, a multiple time period dosage, e.g., a one-month's supply, of a given medication is inserted into the lower compartment. A lesser time period dosage, e.g., a one-week's supply, of the given medication is now withdrawn from lower compartment and is inserted into the upper compartment. A closure member is thereupon applied to the container and the container is thus set for a one-week supply of medication, removable daily from the upper compartment. This procedure applies on a weekly basis until the supply of medication in the lower compartment is depleted.
As noted in the '785 patent application, the prior art evidences various approaches seen to address the secondary drug problem. Noted particularly in the '785 patent application, with remarks distinguishing the same, are U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,106, U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,387, U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,083, U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,654, U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,705 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,654. The '785 patent application also notes, as prior art, a commercially-available medicine container having a cup member defining an upper compartment and removable from the container to permit access to a lower compartment containing medication.